Blade type cleaners are frequently provided for the belt conveyors utilized in mining and mineral storage operations and other such applications; such a device clears the conveyor belt of material that adheres to its surface. These conveyor belt cleaners usually operate in an environment that can only be described as hostile. The working conditions are frequently wet, dirty, and even corrosive. Continuing maintenance activity is a necessity due to inevitable wear on the cleaner blades, but is often rendered difficult by limited access space and the aforementioned adverse working conditions. In excessively wet or corrosive environments, maintenance is made more difficult by corrosion of metal mounting bolts, clamps, and the like. All of these difficulties are likely to be present in mining operations and also in industrial applications.
A conveyor cleaner is also likely to encounter substantial problems from shock forces applied to the cleaner blades. Large pieces of the conveyed material or debris adherring to the conveyor belt, when engaged by a cleaner blade, may damage the blade or its support. The cleaner blades are also subject to impact by engagement with the joints between individual segments of the conveyor belt. Repeated shocks and impacts of this kind may lead to shutdown for repair or replacement of cleaner components, a time consuming and expensive procedure. Thus, it is important to minimize or avoid shock damage to the components of the conveyor belt cleaner as well as to compensate for the inevitable wear on cleaner blades due to continuing normal operation.
A highly effective and efficient conveyor belt cleaner utilizing torsion bias mechanism to maintain the cleaner blades in engagement with the conveyor belt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,036 issued to James R. Gordon Aug. 6, 1985. Even that conveyor cleaner, however, has the disadvantage that replacement of the cleaner blade supports may require appreciable down-time because the blade supports are all keyed to the torsion biased shaft. Some of the blade support arms utilized in that system also have the disadvantage of being formed of metal, which may be undesirable in some excessively wet and corrosive environments. Thus, despite the generally excellent performance characteristics of that conveyor belt cleaner, some difficulties remain.